[ SHOWGSD-L ] Tightening up the rear on God's Mountain...
- From: Barbara Galasso <uwish@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 09 May 2005 08:56:38 -0400
So I'm told by an important person in the breed, "you have a lovely
bitch, but you need to take some weight off her and tighten up her rear
because of her hindquarter angulation.". "Okay", I say to myself, "now
how are we going to do this? I own a finishable bitch and I want to do
right by her breeder, but she also is my housedog and is afforded a
certain lifestyle which she has fast become used to. The mountain next
to my mother's property has been calling to me all winter long. And all
winter long, I kept saying to myself, "how I'd love to take Amber up
there for long walks". But it's those darn worn out "no tresspassing"
signs nailed randomly to trees around the property that plays on my
mind. I could plead innocent to not seeing them because afterall, they
are tattered and the ink is long ago washed away for a near sighted
person like me to be able to read anyway. Aw, the things we do for our
dogs.......risking life and limb, not to mention a fine, or heavens to
bid a jail sentence. "Are you feeling brave today", I ask myself. "Do
you throw caution to the wind", I further challenge myself. I quickly
say to Amber, "hurry up, lets get into these woods before someone sees us".
Amber and I find ourselves rushing to the open invitation of the pathway
that leads up to God's Mountain (that's what my mom called it). Good
thing I remembered to spray her and myself with that bug repellent
before we left the house because the "nasties" are already buzzing their
little hungry mouths around our heads. Trees lay sprawled across our
path and twigs snap beneath our feet as Amber jumps across them and I
gingerly follow her as we sneak deeper into the woods. I see the path
above us and the first of many scattered rocks and open gaps in the
earth where years of erosion from rushing waters came to rest at the
bottom of the mountain in the swampy marsh. As we pass this first pool
of water, we are greeted by "quack, quack" from the two ducks who
recently made this their residency. Amber thinks she'll try to be a
hunting dog rather than the herding dog her genes enabled her to be. I
have to quickly remind her of this little fact as she tries to disturb
the ducks from their Sunday afternoon swim.
Back on the pathway, we continue our journey up the steep rocky slope.
Now we find ourselves having to cross over the jagged rocks that lay out
before us like a jigsaw puzzle to try to maneuver ourselves to get to
the other side. Water is now trickling between the rocks and forming
small pools where the earth is flat. I cross the same path of rocks
that I do everyday. It's the rock that has the big crack in it. It
reminds me of where I need to cross again when I come back down the
mountain. The path narrows along the side of the mass of rocks randomly
scattered along the forest's floor. I tell myself to make sure every
step I take is a calculated step, because one twist on a lone rock or
broken branch could see me take an unwanted tumble. I find myself
huffing and puffing with each slower step I take. Amber turns to look
at me with an impatient wag of her tail, as she hears me mumbling to
myself about how old I'm getting and I say to her "yeah, I'm here to
exercise YOU and get YOU in shape". She looks like she has a smile on
her face, almost like she's laughing at me as I stand with my hands on
my hips and say "wait Amber, wait, I need to catch my breath". As I
turn and look down at the deep hollows that form at the side of the
cliffs that we have just climbed, I find myself in a compromising
position. I realize just how dangerous climbing God's mountain can be.
I force myself to take the next few baby steps to propel myself forward
and find myself asking Amber to wait again. "How come she's not huffing
and puffing like me", I ask. Afterall, she's the one I'm here to get
into shape. Bear in mind Amber is on an extend lead and a nylon collar,
and I beg her to pull me up the path to relieve me of carrying this
burden known as my body up the mountain. Just then, we are startled by
a rustling in the woods to the left of us by a family of white tale
deer. Amber notices and we're off. She's not only pulling me up the
mountain but, I'm being jerked and dragged like I'm riding a wild bronco
in a rodeo. "Whoo" I cry out. "Slow down Amber, hold it, wait", I
shout out to her. My words are drowned out my her barking as she digs
into the ground with her rear feet tightening up that rear assembly of
hers, and my gluteus maximus is getting a very overdue workout that no
overly expensive gym could duplicate.
Coming back down the mountain is decidingly easier and done at a much
more rapid pace. Amber is at least 20 feet in front of me. I don't
even want to entertain the idea of an animal coming out in front of us
now, as I tumble down the rough terrain with a captivated audience of
animals from the forest whose land we trespassed and borrowed while
trying to tighten up my dogs
rear. Barbara Galasso
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